AFRICA
“ People are starting to understand why the intellectual property in the design of a building pays , and we want our clients to see how this enhances their asset – it ’ s not something you can see and touch , like brick or concrete ”
— Guy Steenekamp , Managing Director , LYT Architecture
“ To define Architecture – take a beautiful building complete – then take the identical site next door and replicate all the components of the completed building on it in a random pile . The two sites are identical in intrinsic value , componentry , mass and chemical composition , yet the one is a home and the other is a pile of rubble .
“ The difference between them is architecture .”
BUILT ON FOUR USPS Steenekamp points to four key facets that have allowed LYT to
carve itself a leading position in the South African market .
First is the company ’ s partnership approach to work with clients . “ It ’ s really our willingness to take on shared risk ,” Steenekamp reveals . “ We also have a commercial mindset , in the sense of we get what our clients are trying to do .
“ A lot of people misunderstand what commercial architecture is ; they think that it ’ s somehow qualitatively impaired . In some cases this may be true , but to think that is to misunderstand its essence . Commercial architecture is simply the design of buildings that form an asset class . Like any asset , there ’ s a bottom line involved . Our buildings
85 www . constructionglobal . com